Author of Christmas letter to Santa found by Worksop chimney sweeps revealed

A man whose letter to Santa, written by his father, was stuck up a chimney for 60 years says he hopes to be reunited with the note.

Chimney sweeps in Worksop found the singed Christmas missive, and turned to social media to find the writer.

Robert William Crampton confirmed he was hoping for "a cowboy suit and guns and a hat and everything", though his father wrote the festive epistle.

Despite the postal problems, the retired policeman received his gifts.

Mr Crampton said the letter dates to just before Christmas in 1961, when he was just five years old.

Born in nearby Retford but now living in Surrey, the 65-year-old said it was written on his behalf by his father Robert Alfred Crampton, a sergeant with the Royal Army Service Corps based at the time at Ranby.

After being alerted to the letter, a telltale clue in the neat blue ink identified the senior Robert Crampton as the man holding the pen.

"I spoke to my mum, and she said 'it must have been your dad's handwriting because if it was yours you'd probably have got a doll's house'," the younger Mr Crampton said.

"[She] reminded me I did in fact get some of the kit - I got a cap gun which was like a cowboy six-shooter and a holster, and I remember getting a sheriff's badge.

"I remember the house in Worksop very well, [and] I've got quite a lot of photos of us playing in the garden, although sadly none of me wearing a cowboy outfit."

Mr Crampton hopes he can be reunited with the letter so his daughters have a memento of his father, who died aged 66 in 1996.

He can also say his Christmas wish came true, as he completed 30 years with Surrey Police before retiring in 2013.

"I always wanted to be the sheriff, and I suppose I was in a way," he said.

The letter is currently with the present owners, who said their family have lived at the home for decades and did not know the previous occupants.

Cheryl Thorne, officer manager at Sweeps Chimney Services, said she was thrilled to see the original author tracked down.

"I'm a sentimental person, and when we set this business up I told my husband I always wanted to find a Christmas letter," she said.

"We've had a lot of people get in touch - we didn't expect this amount of interest, and the amount of phone calls we've had has been unbelievable.

"We've had genealogists message us, and it's been really nice people have wanted to help us.

"It's chimney treasure - it's precious when you find something like this."

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